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The Team Colours Project.

Appendix: French club sides.

After covering English, Scottish, and National sides in previous appendices, this is the first page (of eight) covering club sides from the rest of the world. As with the other appendices, I've split the listings circa 1981, to give a rough indication of dating. This hopefully gives numbers to collect for both heavyweight and lightweight players.

The French market for Subbuteo seems to have been a strong one, and as you can see, a large number of teams have been represented down the years. The French, like the Italians, actually had their own Subbuteo production, and their own catalogues. I think they also had a different numbering system at one stage in the 1970s. However, all the numbers here come from the UK catalogues, as I don't have full access to anything else. 

August 2003 - Bernard Cros, a French Subbuteo fan and football historian has kindly gone through my list of teams and corrected and clarified many points. He had noticed many of the errors in the Subbuteo catalogues and posters of his youth, and has finally managed to correct them here! 

Where Bernard thinks that Subbuteo are wrong I've left the kit in the lists, but highlighted it in red. Numbers that are not in bold are those that might have been used "occassionally" or as away kits, but are not regarded as the normal colours of the clubs of the period.

Name

Pre-1981

Post-1981

AC Ajaccio or AC Ajaccien 345 004 
Play in either No 4 kit, or in all white with red trim. 345 is Gazelec Ajaccio
Angers SCO
(
Angers Sporting Club de l'Ouest)
021, 140 156
AS Angoulême 136, 222  
AJ Auxerre, 
(Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise)
136 533, 606, 670, Hasbro 63155
Olympique Avignon  166, 219  
CS Avionnais   272 (not sure if this was catalogued)
Sporting Club Bastia 143 495, 677, 671 
Play in all royal blue so 495 and 677 are too light.
Besançon Racing Club 018 Now play in blue and red.
Béziers 344  
Belieres was Subbuteo's incorrect spelling of the above side.
Blois  214  
In the 1970s they were AAJB (Association Athlétique de la Jeunesse Blésoise)
Girondins de Bordeaux 137, 219 422, 537, 219, 671, 790
Bordeaux ran into financial difficulties in the 1990s and were relegated to Div 2. The new management choose a burgundy kit (in French: Bordeaux) instead of traditional navy blue. The fans hated it, so now they are back in blue once more. The white "V" was also reintroduced ("le scapulaire")
FC Brest-Armorique
Stade Brestois 29
214 041, 441, 303, 183
FC Brest-Armorique played in 1st and 2nd divisions in 1970s-80s. Folded with financial troubles to be reborn in the 1990s as Stade Brestois 29 keeping club's all red kit. 303, 183 above were more often used as an away kit, and Bernard is not sure about the black socks of 441.
Stade Malherbe Caen 338 041, 472
AS Cannes 127 412, 052, Hasbro 63159
LB Châteauroux
(
La Berrichonne Châteauroux)
336  
AS Corbeil-Essonne 331 393
Cuiseaux-Louhans (or visa versa)   250
They were Cuiseaux-Louhans until the late1980s when for sponsoring reasons the names were swapped and it became Louhans-Cuiseaux. Both are villages in Burgundy.
USL Dunkerque
(
Union Sportive Littoral Dunkerque)
248 384, (Currently play in ref 464)
Gazelec Ajaccio 345  
FC Grenoble (pre 1997)
Grenoble Foot 38 (post 1997)
  285 Currently play in red shirts and shorts with blue socks.
FC Gueugnon 047 365
En Avant (Go Ahead) Guingamp 147  
Laval or Stade Lavallois 049, 249 006, 377, 607, 672
Laval's colours are always orange and black. So 607 needs to be orange, not yellow.
Le Havre Athletic Club 339 567, 673, 671
Known as "Le HAC" they were the first club founded in France by an Englishman in 1872. Uses Oxford's dark blue, and Cambridge's light blue, so ref 33 are a good 1970s version.
Racing Club Lens 250 758, 632
FC Libourne 063  
Now merged with Saint-Seurin and play in each town alternatively using the colour of the former clubs (blue when at Libourne, and green at Saint-Seurin)
Lille Olympique SC (le LOSC) 144, 359 041
Limoges Foot 87 303 039, 475
Lyon, or Olympique Lyonnais 139, 347 535, 001, 183, 018, 670, 63154
Play in all white with some form of red and blue trim. So 018 and 670 are lacking in red trim.
Marseille 140, 219 021, 423, 674, 670, 63157
The final version of 140 is wrong. Colours are white and light blue. 21 lacks the blue, 219 was an away kit.
FC Martigues 348 758
Their colours should be red and yellow like 250, so 348 is wrong.
FC Metz 099, 154 (one season) 534, 504, 483, 214
Their colour is maroon.. 
AS Monaco 148 Hasbro 63158
Union Sportive Montluçon 342  
Union Sportive Montmorillon 156  
Montpellier 021 027, 001, 481, 670, 761
Were La Paillade Montpellier until the mid 1980s, then sponsored by local authority and became Montpellier Hérault Sports Club. The kit changed at this point to blue and orange like 761, and they are currently playing in all navy with orange trim and socks.
FC Mulhouse
now FC Mulhouse Sud-Alsace
  018
AS Nancy-Lorraine 141 021 - needs red trim
FC Nantes
now FC Nantes-Atlantique
142 759, 63153
OGC Nice 
(Olympique Gymnaste Club)
076 057, 076
Nîmes Olympique 138 218, 596, 648, 138
Union Sportive Noeux-les-Mines 047  
Union Sportive Orleans 181  
Paris FC 188,306, 323  
Paris FC have always played in light blue. 188 and 306 come from a period when they were sponsored by BIC pens, who had just opened a new factory in Paris.
Paris Saint-Germain FC 145, 251, 358 536, 734
Racing Club de Paris 011 538 (away), 090, 666
Subbuteo never managed this team properly even though it is "the most traditional kit in France". Should be sky blue and white hooped shirts, with black shorts and socks if you want to paint one. 538 was an away kit.
Quimper or Stade Quimpérois 154 496
AS Red Star 146  
Reims, Stade de Reims Champagne 016, 232  
Rennes, Stade Rennais 147  
FC Rouen 337 218, 392
Called FC Grand Rouen for a while in the 1990s and are now FC Rouen 1899. Play in red and white, and ref 1 would be fine. The odd Ref 337 (blue, red, green shirts) is wrong and another mystery.
AS Saint Etienne 146, 346 045, 393
Union Sportive Saint-Die 343  
FC Sedan  149  
FC Sedan were successful in the 1950s-60s, but had financial trouble  and merged to become US Sedan-Torcy before folding in the 1970s. Another professional club was formed in the 1980s called Club Sportif Sedan-Ardennes, but their kit is green, red and black.
FC Sète, FC Sète 34   277
FC Sochaux-Montbéliard  047, 316 577, 762, 316
Stade Francais   539
A famous team in the 1890s, they were revived in the 1970s. Sadly folded in the 1980s. The blue colour came from Oxford University, and the rugby team is still active.
Racing Club Strasbourg 002, 314 519, 621, 219, 631, 002
Union Sportive Tavaux-Damparis 340  
Another team to have folded. Merged with Dole to form Dole-Tavaux RC
Thionville FC 047  
Sporting Club Toulon   561, 365, 675, 577
Yellow and blue are the city colours, so 561 is probably wrong (and 047 would also be okay)
Toulouse Football Club 341 055, 447, 760
Always played in purple/violet (city's nickname is "the city of violets"). So 447 would need violet shorts. 760 rarely used, sometimes as an away kit.
Tours FC 172 90
Troyes Aube Football 252  
This side folded, and a new one founded in 1986, currently known as ESTAC (Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne). They play in all blue with white socks (like Chelsea)
ASOA Valence   412
Full name (deep breath) Association Sportive d'Origine Arménienne Valence. They play in all red, so should be 41 rather than 412.
Union Sportive Valenciennes-Anzin 150, 214  
This team folded in 1996 and were revived simply as Valenciennes FC. Their colours remain unchanged (and ref 001 would be fine)
     

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